BEAUTIFULLY KEPT AND CERTAINLY NOT DERELICT!

Our plans for today changed somewhat last night when we realised we needed to go to the coast to sort out some family business so we were excited at the prospect of seeing the sea and walking along the promenade in the sunshine.  However, it was not to be.

When I woke at 4 a.m. I could hear the rain and at 7 a.m. when we were about to leave it was hammering down, but we still needed to go, so in the pouring rain we drove down to the coast.  When we arrived the rain was still lashing down, so our first port of call was to the Ludo Lounge in Southbourne to get our morning coffee fix and have some breakfast.  I recognised one of the young ladies in there and discovered she used to work at Little Pickle in Boscombe, a place we often visited, so it was good to catch up with her.

We had finished our business by 11.30 a.m. and decided to drive back as there was no point in wandering around in the pouring rain, and as the motorway was blocked with stationary traffic, we came off and went through lot of little villages in the New Forest;  fortunately, by this time, it had stopped raining.

We stopped and had a lovely lunch at The Churchill Arms in Aldersholt then continued our journey, which took us through Fordingbridge, Salisbury, Tidworth and Marlborough.  Just before we reached Marlborough, I remembered this little garage at Cadley in Savernake Forest, with its two bright red petrol pumps, so we stopped so that I could take some photographs.  They are redundant, but certainly not derelict and who knows, if we go back to gallons instead of litres these would be right back in fashion - if they still work that is - although the garage is still open for servicing and selling used cars.

We decided not to come back on the main road from Marlborough, as it can get very busy, so we then wended our way through Ogbourne St. Andrew, Ogbourne St. George and Aldbourne, lovely Wiltshire villages, stopping to take more photographs - I have put an extra photograph in to show how beautiful our county is at the moment.

A light wind swept over the corn, 
     and all nature laughed 
          in the sunshine. 
Anne Brontë